Traveling sprinkler



May 14, 1935. w. A. BUCKNER 2,001,130

TRAVELING SPRINKLER Filed Deo. 26 1955 2 sheets-sheet 1 lllllllllllillllllllim IIIHIIIIIIIIIIIII u.

" lvm '0 INVENTOR v ATTORNEY t May 14, 1935. w. A. BUCKNER TRAVELING SPRINKLER .0 8 l, l 0 o 2 2 sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 26, 1953 UIIIIIII Ill INVENTOR ATTORNEY BY 61...@ .um

'1 0 tion gearing mechanism between' the vwheel and such as on putting greens, athletic fields and the lo 35 standing passage member L The spindle beyond pinion 23 0n the lower end Of the Sleeve 20 meshes 33 Patented May 14, `1935 I v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRAvELmG spammen William A.. Buckner, Fresno, Calif. Application December ze, 193s, serial No. 703,874

4 claims. (cl. 299-50) This invention relates to traveling sprinklers from saggingv intermediate its ends. If the of the type which include a wheel on which the Sprinkler is to travel through an arc of considernozzle .is supported, which is connected to an ably shorter radius, witha corresponding shorter axially disposed supporting pipe projecting from length of piping, thisidler wheel is not necessary.

5 a swivel lconnection with a source of supply, the The water supply pipe and valve unit H may be wheel turning'about said swivel connection as lan permanently connected to an underground supaxis, l v V -V l' ply, or it may be mounted on a portable sled, as

'I'he principal object of this'i invention is to is done when the area to be watered is not provide an. improved and 'eicient speed reducequipped with the permanently mounted Valves.

the rotating nozzle spindle of the sprinkler, delike. signed so thatthe desired slowspeed of rotation A pipe l of predetermined lengthprojects from of the wheel is obtained, with a. minimum numthe end of the spindle 3 Opposite the Pipe 5 and has ber of gears and so that the mechanism is exa two-nozzle unit I5 mounted on its youter end. tremely simple and compact and occupies a very One nozzle IG of this unit projects from the outer m small space. end of the same and is set at a predetermined These objects I accomplish by means of such angle so as to throw a spray the greatest distance. structure and relative arrangement of ports as Y The other nozzle il, While directinga stream in a will fully appear by a perusal of the following substantially horizontal direction, is adjustable specification and claims. about a vertical axis so that it can be set to propgo 1n the drawings similar characters of refererly direct its spray overthe area not covered by ence indicate corresponding parts in the several the Stream from the main nozzle. views; i v Removably but rigidly mounted in and pro- Figure 1 is a top plan view of the complete as- J'eeiing upwardly from the member 4 is a tubular sembly. i h n extension I8. 'Ihis is to al1 intents and purposes o Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical transverse seca PaIlQf. themenlbel 4 and has a gear I9 xed tion of the whcei'and nozzle unit, on its upper end. Turntable on the extension is a Figure 3 is afragmentary side elevation show- Sleeve 20 Testing 0n an outwardly projecting ing the main unit of the speed reduction gearing. flange 2| formed 0n the eXleIlSiOn lll immediately 3o A Referring now more particularly to the charabove the member 4. The Sleeve carries a gear 22 ac acters of reference on the drawings, the numeral llXed thereon immediately Under the gear i9 and l denotes a, ground engaging Wheel having a while said gears are the same pitch diameter, hub 2. This hub turns on a spindle a which bethe teer 22 has one more tooth than the gear yond one end of the hub is formed with an upl9 for a purpose Which Will be Seen. A bevel the opposite end of the hub is connected to a with e beveled geel 24 disposed 0n the adjacent length 0f pipe 5 by an ordinary sleeve cgupling 6; Side 0f the Wheel l. A lubricant I'ljECOIl fitting an adjustable collar 1 on the spindle between the 25 is preferably connected to the sleeve so that coupling and the adjacent end of the hub prethe contacting surfaces of the sleeve and exten- 40 venting longitudinal movement of said spindle. i Sion may be maintained lubricated. 4u

The pipe 5 is connected at its outer end to an- Turnable in the extension is a tubular spindle other special sleeve coupling 8, which is also con- 26- Al? its 10We1' end this Spindle has an enlarged nected to the adjacentend ofv another length of flange 27 engaging a Water Sealing Washer 28 pipe g, Said lengths of pipe being in longitudinal which bears against the lower end of the extenalinement. The opposite end of the pipe 9 is sion '8' Ahead 29 1S mounted on the uppel.' end 43 connected to an elbow l0 which is mounted on ofjme spmdle above .the gear I9 from Whlch a a vertical axis for swivel movement in a horipal-r of opposed reactlonary nozzle arms 3 pro' ject horizontally. Below the nozzles the head is zontal plane in connection with a suitable xed r water supply pipe and. Valve it 'L The com formed with a radial arm 3| having a pinion 32 mounted thereon and which f pllng 8, besides forming a connection between the l both gears 49 and 2l constantly engages d@ lengths of pipe, also serves as a spindle on which 1n operation, with the passage of Water through the hub I2 of an idler wheel I 3 turns. This wheel the spindle 3, the passage member 4, and the iS Sed When a Otal length 0f Piping of between spindle 26 to the nozzles 30, said spindle 26- will thirty and forty feet is'used, so as to hold the same be rotated. The arm 3l of course also turns and 5l since the upper gear I9 is stationary the pinion 32 will rotate about its axis. 'I'he teeth of the two gears are always in alinement where engaged with a. tooth of the pinion. Since however the lower gear has one more tooth than the upperl.,

one, the rotation of the pinion about its own axis and also about the spindle 26 as an axis, causes the lower gear to rotate slightly as each one in succession is alined with a tooth of the upper gear, as the pinion moves into mesh with such teeth. In other words, with each complete revolution of the pinion about the gear I9, the gear 22 will be advanced the arcuate distance between adjacent teeth. Therefore if the upper gear for instance has 24 teeth and the lower one 25, the relative speed of rotation between the spindle and said 'gear will be 25 to 1. 'I'he driving speed imparted to the wheel by the bevel pinion and gear is again reduced by reason of the relatively great size of the bevel gear compared to its pinion.

The successful operation of this structure depends on using gears having a large number of teeth relative to their diameter, and by reducing the thickness of the teeth of the lower gear very slightly to compensate for the decrease in the space between the teeth and into which the pinion teeth must project. While the difference in the number of teeth may be more than one in the case of large gears or very small teeth, this would result in a faster rotation of the lower gear., whereas my aim is to keep the speed of the same as low as possible.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen thatI have produced such a device as substantially fullls the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviationsv from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters lPatent is:

l. In a traveling sprinkler having a horizontal passage member, a turnable coupling connection for one end of said member and means to turn the member about said connection as an axis; a nozzle on the outer end of the member set to discharge water away from the same in a longitudinal direction and at an upward angle, and another nozzle mounted on said member for adjustment about a vertical axis disposed adjacent said rst nozzle to discharge a stream in a substantially horizontal direction but inwardly of the area. covered by the discharge from the first named nozzle.

2. In a traveling sprinklerrhaving a ground bearing gear wheel, an upstanding rigid passage unit disposed radially of the wheel on one side thereof and adjacent thereto, a sleeve turnable on the unit and whose axis is radially of the wheel, a pinion on the sleeve'meshing with the gear wheel, a gear on the upper end of the sleeve7 a gear fixed on the passage unit immediately above the sleeve gear, a reaction-nozzle and spindle unit turnable mounted in the passage unit and projecting thereabove, an arm fixed on and projecting radially from the spindle above the passage unit, and a pinion unit turnably mounted on the outer end of the arm in depending relation thereto and engaging the sleeve and passage unit gears.

3. In a traveling sprinkler having a ground bearing gear wheel, an upstanding rigid passage unit disposed radially of the wheel on one side thereof and adjacent thereto, a sleeve turnable on the unit and whose axis is radially of the wheel, a pinion on the sleeve meshing with the gear wheel, a reaction-nozzle and spindle unit turnably mounted in and projecting upwardly from the passage unit, and drive connections between the spindle unit and the sleeve to rotate the latter with the rotation of the spindle unit.

4. In a traveling sprinklerfa horizontal passage spindle, a wheel having a hub turning on the spindle, an upstanding passage unit projecting from the spindle radially of and adjacent one side of the wheel, an enlarged flange integral with the the spindle between the passage unit and the wheel hub and engaged by the adjacent end of the latter, a sleeve turnably mounted on the unit whose axis is radially of the lwheel, annular gear teeth on the side of the wheel nearest the unit, a pinion on the sleeve engaging vthe wheel teeth, a rotatable sprinkler head mounted on the passage unit, and means betweenV the head and sleeve to rotate the sleeve with the rotation of the head.

WILLIAM A. BUCKNER. 

